The present invention concerns a mechanism for tiling a viewfinder of a camera in two opposite senses, i.e., upwardly and downwardly.
Cameras used in television studios do not have the capability of allowing the cameraman to view the televised scene directly through the lens. Instead, an electronic viewfinder which includes a small cathode ray tube for displaying the image in response to the electrical signal representing the image produced by the camera for transmission is used. The cathode ray tube may also be used as an oscilloscope during the adjustment of the camera. For both uses, it is often desirable to adjust the position of the viewfinder relative to the housing of the camera for the convenience of the operator. Such position adjustments include tilting the viewfinder upwardly and downwardly as well as rotating it.
In a widely used studio camera, known as the TK-47, manufactured by RCA Corporation, the mechanism for tilting the viewfinder includes an arm rotatably attached at one end to the housing of the camera and a platform which is rotatably attached to the other end of the arm and which supports the viewfinder. The support arm must be rotated from a storage position to a vertical position and then locked before the viewfinder can be tilted in either an upward or downward sense. Raising the viewfinder to its tiltable position is time consuming and inconvenient.